SUPERMARKET Wm Morrison will be looking to cement its reputation as one of the big retail success stories during the recession when it delivers half-year results on Thursday.

The UK’s fourth biggest grocer has enjoyed faster recent sales growth than its major rivals, with data from TNS Worldpanel showing Morrisons lifting its market share from 11.2 per cent to 11.6 per cent in the 12 weeks to July 12.

Same store, first-quarter sales rose 7.3 per cent and the chain said second-quarter trading was better than expected, paving the way for bumper annual figures.

Justin Scarborough, retail analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland, predicts like-for-like sales excluding fuel and VAT to have risen by 8 per cent.

Underlying pre-tax profits are expected to come in 21 per cent up on the previous year at £354million.

PUBS chain JD Wetherspoon is expected to buck a year of economic gloom with a 16 per cent rise in annual profits to £64million on Friday. This has been driven by a 1.2 per cent rise in like-for-like sales in the 50 weeks to July 12 and new openings while margins have been helped by higher drink prices as well as lower-than-expected energy and staff costs.

In July Wetherspoon, which has more than 700 pubs, said recent sales trends had been “encouraging” with comparative sales over the final weeks of the trading year up 2 per cent.

THE impact of recession and the collapse of the Birthdays chain is expected to result in a 40 per cent fall in annual profits for chocolatier Thorntons on Wednesday.

The firm enjoyed the benefits of an extra three weeks to sell chocolate in the run-up to a much later Easter as well as the collapse of rivals such as Woolworths but this was offset by a weaker performance during the early summer’s hot weather.

Birthdays, which operated 94 franchises with the chocolate retailer, went into administration in May. Although the subsequent rescue of 192 stores by Clinton Cards could limit the impact of the failure, Thorntons saw franchise sales fall by over 25 per cent in the final quarter of its trading year. It said in July that profits would come in “marginally ahead” of the £5.4million consensus forecasts.

HOUSEBUILDER Redrow will present its first set of results on Thursday since founder Steve Morgan re-took the helm of the business.

Mr Morgan – the Wolverhampton Wanderers owner who started Redrow in 1974 – built up a near-30 per cent stake in March and became executive chairman after a boardroom shake-up.

Under Morgan, the firm is shifting focus towards high-quality family housing and cutting the number of apartments in its landbank.

Pre-tax losses of £53.4million are forecast for the year to June 30 although further write-downs in land values are in prospect.

UPDATES from major retail chain Kesa Electricals, which owns Comet and Argos and Homebase operator Home Retail Group, will be keenly watched on Thursday, given the recent pick-up in the housing market.

Kesa’s last set of figures made for grim reading.

It reported an annual pre-tax loss of £81.8million in the year to April, compared with profits of £128.8million the previous year.

Official data showed the upturn in the housing market was driving demand for furniture and electrical items, which helped sales rise 0.4 per cent in July.

Home Retail has already reported signs of a recovery after its DIY chain Homebase returned to like-for-like sales growth for the first time in two years during the quarter to May 30.

Home owners’ trend to “improve not move” also helped.

Argos has seen a marked easing in sales declines thanks in part to a better performance from consumer electronics.

Analysts expect sales falls at Argos to narrow to 1.6 per cent from 2.8 per cent the previous quarter, with Homebase likely to show a 2.5 per cent sales drop.